How do Cajun's Grow?

11 years ago

Hi, I got some stater plants of various Cajun's that were greenhouse grown locally at a local AVSA chapter's annual AV show and Sale. The plants all have very large, leggy leaves, from six to a dozen leaves, average number, on very elongated petioles or leaf stems. The centers are much smaller. So they don't look like they have a lot of leaves and don't look like a normal violet. The variety seems to grow loosely and gangly. It may have been the greenhouse conditions that resulted in this growth pattern. Can these be grown out eventually to a more balanced look? I have never seen a grown Cajun's, so are they huge? Do they grow symmetrically? Evenly? I want to grow out a bunch for my club's sale in September. A lot of leaves broke off as the elongated leaves get tangled up really easily with other plants. So I have a lot of leaf starts. But in my experience, the Cajun's leaf starts are not any faster, maybe even slower because so large. So I doubt I will have grown plants in 6 months from leaves. For now, I am giving them extra light. I grow in daylight lightly supplemented, not on lighted shelves. (I have had other plants from other vendors that were long and leggy, they were much smaller. It took them a long time to even out. )

Thanks for any tips,Joanne

Featured Answer

jonboyny

11 years ago

This is what one of mine looks like mature. It is a vigorous grower—but I really don't think it could be grown from leaf to a fully grown plant in 6 months. I've never been able to do that with any plant myself really! Maybe my plants are just a bit lazy? It's about 14 in across at this point.

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Comments (11)

Karin
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I just got cajun's McKenna trail and it is the opposite story.... Small leaves & short petioles.

With your plants, I'd probably remove the outer row of leaves, and then more gradually take more off here and there. Removing some leaves supposedly encourages overall growth. Keep them disbudded and clear of suckers. Six months should be plenty of time to shape them up for a sale...

Karin
AnneCecilia z5 MI
11 years ago
And I was thinking Cajun's must not like me because they do not grow large for me. I think Karin gave good advice. Remove those gangly outer leaves and see how they respond to your growing conditions, Joanne. None of mine are monsters so perhaps yours won't be either.
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fortyseven_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi! Thanks! Great info, Karin! A lot of it new to me.

Anne, thanks for the tips.

Joanne
Melody Rose
11 years ago
I love Cajun's!! I don't have any large plants yet though so I can't really give a good judgement.
fortyseven_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Me, too, I am excited to have Cajun's that I want to share some plants with others in six months! Beautiful flowering plants, hopefully, not pots of leaves. They are hard to come by.

I got a couple of leaves from Linda in a RR and am happy! Joanne
lucky123
11 years ago
Joanne

Over the winter months, I have had several plants, greenhouse grown that had a row of long, long petioles and a crown,

The first two, I whacked off the long leaves and thought the crown would grow, but the crown was all that was left. So I potted down. Then I had to crown the plant.

So, this newest one I acquired, I have left the long leaves in place. I have the plant in good, really good natural light and I reduced the fertilizer. It is filling in nicely and soon I will have more rows of shorter petiole leaves and I can cut those long petiole leaves off.

I believe that over the winter, these plants have not received enough light due to overcast and general winter conditions. I also think the plants have been over-fertilized to force them into bloom when they are little more than a row of leaves and crown.

Those are the conditions I corrected and this plant is going to recover much faster without being whacked.

It might also be that the plants are rooted crowns.
fortyseven_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the advice, just in time! When I looked at the plants, I realized that between the leaves that had fallen off, and those I pulled off to root or put into a RR, there were not many long ones left. So maybe that was enough to remove for now. Joanne
Karin
11 years ago
wow, that is gorgeous!
fortyseven_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Yes, it is a fabulous plant, and a nice big size. Thanks for posting. My Cajun's leaves look nothing like those -- or like any violet I have severe seen. They are huge, heavily spooned, with wild=looking serration, so the leaves look very curly, like a poodle. Yes, you are correct, raising a plant from a leaf in six months will not happen. The next plan is to separate out all the suckers from all plants and pot them up. It is mostly fast-growing O's that seem to sucker or have trailer-style multiple crowns that can easily be separated.. Joanne
Melody Rose
11 years ago
Whoa! That's going straight on my wish list. Amazing job growing it!